The Avengers Stage Play Today

[Borgus Weems]

So - the Avengers stage play. Could it be performed today if somebody licensed it from the rights holders? Or is the ownership of the play the kind of thing that is a morass of rights between the producers of the plays and the rights holders of the tv show, making a clean and easy deal to produce the play impossible (like the rights issues that prevent the Batman 66 tv show from being released on home media)?

Not that I have the cash to put on such a play, but it seems to me that it might be the sort of thing that some enterprising producer could do to get some immediate publicity for their theatre. What's more, it could be the thing that actually jumpstarted new interest in the Avengers. Why is that, you may ask? A little spoken about origin for the Batman 66 series is why it came about. Apparently Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Club began to show the old 40's Batman serials to various people and it became a minor sensation, with audiences coming to root for the heroes and hiss the villians. The producers of the show saw the serial there, and that led them to produce the tv show with the idea to appeal to both sophisticated audiences as well as have all the action played straight.

[anti-clockwise]

So - the Avengers stage play. Could it be performed today if somebody licensed it from the rights holders? Or is the ownership of the play the kind of thing that is a morass of rights between the producers of the plays and the rights holders of the tv show, making a clean and easy deal to produce the play impossible (like the rights issues that prevent the Batman 66 tv show from being released on home media)?

Not that I have the cash to put on such a play, but it seems to me that it might be the sort of thing that some enterprising producer could do to get some immediate publicity for their theatre. What's more, it could be the thing that actually jumpstarted new interest in the Avengers. Why is that, you may ask? A little spoken about origin for the Batman 66 series is why it came about. Apparently Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Club began to show the old 40's Batman serials to various people and it became a minor sensation, with audiences coming to root for the heroes and hiss the villians. The producers of the show saw the serial there, and that led them to produce the tv show with the idea to appeal to both sophisticated audiences as well as have all the action played straight.

I think we need a venture capitalist who is a fan of TA. I would love to see it! And some of the main creators Brian Clemens, Ray Austin and Roger Marshall several of whom may still be very interested. I contacted Ray and he is ready to fly for a lecture or i am sure would love to direct. Would be a dream to see these guys in action again-at least for me.

[dissolute]

They'd make it a bloody musical these days.

[paulpdjh]

Is the script for the stage play still available? (I've only ever read brief plot outlines). If it does exist and there are no rights issues, I wonder if Big Finish might consider producing it as an audio book (assuming their lost season one episodes series sells well enough to justify further Avengers productions).

[mousemeat]

They'd make it a bloody musical these days.

lord, noooooooo LOL............but the idea of an new play is interesting

[Borgus Weems]

The idea of a Big Finish audio is... BRILLIANT! If Patrick was interesting, maybe he could be Steed for it? If not, maybe he could be Invisible Jones, or even just read a few lines.

Still, it would be cool to see costumes and visual stuff as well, but an audio could be a darn great way to get that piece of Avengersana out to the world in a way that could make it really doable!

So who's got a contact with Big Finish?

[Dan]

The idea of a Big Finish audio is... BRILLIANT! If Patrick was interesting, maybe he could be Steed for it? If not, maybe he could be Invisible Jones, or even just read a few lines.

Still, it would be cool to see costumes and visual stuff as well, but an audio could be a darn great way to get that piece of Avengersana out to the world in a way that could make it really doable!

So who's got a contact with Big Finish?

Really really like this idea.